SINGAPORE : New Silkroutes Group Limited (“NSG” or “the Group”) will acquire a 51% stake in Singapore-based Healthsciences International Pte Ltd (“HSI”) in a move marking its foray into the healthcare sector in Asia, where it intends to offer services ranging from primary and preventive care to systems integration and enterprise resource planning for hospitals and clinics.

Incorporated in 1994, HSI has a healthcare practice group with expertise to design, develop and run hospitals. The practice group also offers primary and preventive healthcare through its three clinics in Singapore.

The clinics offer complementary integrative therapies based on Western medical standards of healthcare, serving patients from Southeast Asia, China and even the United States. The clinics focus on immunology and oncology, pain management (acupuncture and acupressure), subfertility, geriatrics, and chronic disease management.

Mission-critical software solutions

HSI also has a wholly owned subsidiary, Silk Systems Pte Ltd, that provides mission-critical software solutions to help hospitals and healthcare companies work better. These can be for standalone functions such as medical records management and inventory procurement, or a comprehensive information system that integrates all front- and back-end activities, including patient registration, scheduling of appointments for doctors and patients, billing and insurance payments.

For healthcare providers operating in multiple locations or geographical markets, HSI can fully integrate all their front- and back-end functions across their various points of presence. More than 10 medical centres in China – located in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou and Chengdu – are using HSI’s software solutions, which also link them to major insurance companies.

HSI’s enterprise software operations in China are overseen by a team based in Shanghai. In Singapore, more than 40 health- and beauty-care chain stores are running on HSI’s solutions. With the acquisition of HSI, NSG will offer these solutions to healthcare providers in other Asian markets, including Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Healthcare benefits programme

HSI also runs the largest employee healthcare benefits programme in Southeast Asia, under its Life!Club brand. Beneficiaries can get privileges and discounts at more than 30 healthcare, wellness and lifestyle chains in Singapore. HSI manages the Life!Club programme for three Singapore-listed healthcare companies.

Life!Club’s membership base is expected to increase to more than 20,000 over the next 12 months from about 12,800 currently. Following the acquisition, NSG will develop a digital wallet for Life!Club users to pay for purchases at HSI’s participating chains.